POSCO (NYSE:PKX) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) shares gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $75.48, but opened at $71.77. POSCO shares last traded at $71.2310, with a volume of 45,371 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on PKX shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of POSCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of POSCO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of POSCO from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

POSCO Trading Down 6.6%

The firm has a market capitalization of $21.32 billion, a PE ratio of 41.70 and a beta of 1.58. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.64.

POSCO (NYSE:PKX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.12. POSCO had a net margin of 1.19% and a return on equity of 1.35%. Analysts forecast that POSCO will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On POSCO

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Xponance LLC grew its stake in shares of POSCO by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 4,433 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 51.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 6,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of POSCO by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,636 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter.

About POSCO

POSCO (NYSE: PKX) is a South Korea–based integrated steel producer founded in 1968 as Pohang Iron and Steel Company. Headquartered in Pohang, the company grew rapidly as part of South Korea’s industrialization program and developed large, integrated steelworks—most notably in Pohang and Gwangyang—that helped establish POSCO among the world’s largest steelmakers. It is structured as a diversified industrial group with steelmaking at its core and a range of downstream and trading businesses.

The company’s primary activities include ironmaking and steelmaking, producing a wide array of steel products such as hot-rolled and cold-rolled sheets, coated steels, plates, stainless and special steels, long products (bars and wire rods), and seamless pipes.